The Black Freedom Struggle For Equality Essay

Throughout the history of the United States there have been many reform movements that have molded the culture we live in today. The rights that we as Americans enjoy today can be credited to the people who fought for more rights and a better way of life. Two reform movements that have changed America for the better are the Abolitionist Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. Around the 1820’s the feeling of legal slavery was changing in the United States.

To what extent can it be argued that De Jure (legal) segregation was the main obstacle preventing blacks from achieving equality in the 1920s – 1930s?

The African American population in the United States have always seemed to have been oppressed and persecuted throughout the history of the country. They have been targeted and put down using emotional, physical and sometimes, extremely violent methods. The time period from 1865 to 1905 was a particularly bad period for Southern African Americans. Huge hurdles had to be crossed for the people that were newly allowed to participate in the United States as citizens.

The 1960s was a very hostile time for African Americans, especially in one particular state. In Mississippi, only 7% of the African American population was registered to vote, while other southern states had about 50%-60% of the black community participating in elections. Though preventing someone from voting based on their skin color was unconstitutional, many towns in Mississippi made it almost impossible for anyone of color to enter the voting booth. Many efforts to try to encourage voting in African Americans failed due to the fear of what would happen after the attempt. The possible consequences for those who pursued in the right to vote was having their name publicized in local newspapers, losing their job, or facing the threat of violence against

The novel The Book of Negroes, written by Lawrence Hill depicts the life of a female African named Aminata, and her rough journey while having to endure slavery. From childhood to adulthood, Aminata faces many tragedies and has many horrifying experiences. Aminata is chosen by members of the abolitionist movement to help their movement and she possesses unique features. Aminata however, does not believe that she would make a difference, but her long life chaning, and horrifying voyage says otherwise.Therefore with her experience, strong character, and ability to adapt to a variety of different environments and situations, Aminata is beneficial to the

During the year of 1865, after the North’s victory in the Civil War, the Republican Party began to pass national legislation in order to secure free blacks’ rights.

"We 're not Americans, we 're Africans who happen to be in America. We were kidnapped and brought here against our will from Africa. We didn 't land on Plymouth Rock - that rock landed on us" (Malcolm X). This quotation symbolizes the sentiments of many African Americans past and present who were involuntarily brought to the shores of the United States of America. Since arriving here, African Americans have been mistreated, misinformed, misguided, misplaced, and misunderstood more than any other ethnic group that has set foot on these soils. In this paper, I will attempt to provide a brief history and describe the timeline of African Americans from the Civil Rights Era until the present day.

they are enslaved as wrong as it was some people did not believe so, enslaved lasting

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr sit in a jail cell writing a letter to clergymen, there is civil unrest in the nation. In 1963, the Civil Rights Movement is well underway. Alabama is one of the most segregated states in the union and being in the Deep South, is prone to more racial injustices than others. Dr. King points out his feelings of telling his daughter she can’t go to a new place as it is whites only, the pain of his children and their unconscious feelings of being inferior while not understanding why, and explains the disrespect given to colored people in regards to their name, or lack thereof. While this is only his point of view, it is a chronic feeling that has swept the nation, specifically in Birmingham, Alabama.

African Americans in the United States had struggling for equal rights since the end of the Civil War. Although the North's victory in the civil war was a step towards freedom, it in no way granted African Americans civil rights. Institutions such as the Jim Crow Laws reinforced racial inequality even after reconstruction. They served to segregate the races and promoted an inherently unequal system. African Americans fought to their best abilities for civil rights during the Reconstruction period after the civil war. Despite this, the Civil rights movement only began to gain momentum in the 1950s because of the Great Migration, World War II, and the NAACP's victory in Brown

Equality as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is the quality or state of being equal : the quality or state of having the same rights, social status, etc. This nation was founded on three main principles, which were liberty, freedom, and equality. Though our country has struggled on many occasions to maintain each of these principles, the hardest one to maintain seems to be that of equality. Every human being has a desire to be seen as equal, its basic human nature. We seek equality in every aspect of our lives, whether it is the equality of religion, race, social class, or even gender. The inhabitants of this nation have fought for and over equality since its foundation. Throughout this paper I would like to delve into the written works of two great minds that strove to gain equal rights for both African Americans and women. These two individuals took it upon themselves to achieve the seemingly impossible, and our nation is a better place due to their desire to seek change where change was needed. Abraham Lincoln and Elizabeth Stanton used their speeches and written works to fuel changes in this nation that are still seen today, and I can wholeheartedly say that this nation is a better place due to their desires to seek justice for those who were not given a voice to help themselves. This paper will show how Lincoln and Stanton used their writings to open the eyes of this nation to the injustices that were being shown to not only women and African Americans, but

From the earliest years of European settlement in North America, whites enslaved and oppressed black people. Although the Civil War finally brought about the abolition of slavery, a harsh system of white supremacy persisted thereafter. In the early twentieth century, African Americans in the South and in many parts of nearby border states were banned from associating with whites in a host of institutions and public accommodations—schools, hospitals, old folks’ homes, rest rooms, waiting rooms, railroad cars, hotels, restaurants, lunch counters, parks and beaches, swimming pools, libraries, concert halls, and movie theaters. Some recreational areas posted signs, “Negroes and Dogs Not Allowed.” Racial discrimination deprived Southern blacks of decent jobs and schools and of elementary rights of citizenship, including voting. White intimidation and violence, including lynching, remained an ever-present threat. Outside of the South, blacks had legal rights, but they suffered from widespread discrimination and from de facto residential and school segregation.

The abolition of slavery in the United States presented southern African Americans with many new opportunities, including the option of relocation in search of better living conditions. The mass movement of black people from the rural areas of the South to the cities of the North, known as the Black Migration, came in the 1890s when black men and women left the south to settle in cities such as Philadelphia and New York, fleeing from the rise of Jim Crowe Laws and searching for work. This migration of blacks from the South has been an important factor in the formation of the Harlem Renaissance. The period referred to as the Harlem Renaissance, was a flourishing period of artistic and literary creation in African-American culture and

Take a look around you. Imagine the world now, then again from fifty to a hundred and fifty years ago. Much has changed and much has stayed the same. Plenty of issues that were prevalent so long ago are still lingering around today such as racism, discrimination, white supremacy. We fight constant battles fighting these issues whether its educating others or defending ourselves from it. It was only one hundred and one years ago that we saw D.W. Griffiths Birth of a Nation hit the silver screens. This film changed America, it set a different tone and look for people of color, more specifically black Americans.

The African American fight for civil rights has been a time-consuming conflict in the United States of America. More than 50 years after The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed, African Americans are still treated differently from their white peers. While some people believe that African American equality was solved with the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America, this is not correct. Ever since the election of President Barack Obama, unarmed African Americans are still being murdered by their American peers, causing the Black Lives Matter movement. The Black Lives Matter movement was formed after Trayvon Martin, a young black male, was murdered by George Zimmerman. While the 21st century is here, African American racial inequalities are still a major problem.